#classroom expectations

[oldschoolteach]

Should We Let Go of EXPECTATIONS?

Should We Let Go of EXPECTATIONS?

There was a post on Twitter about a mother who sent her kid to school knowing they had tested positive for COVID. As I am wont to do, I dived into the comments.  A constant stream ran through the thread, noone should be upset with the adult. Instead we should blame society, the school, etc…., anyone but this adult who made the choice to send a kid to school with COVID. Have we gone too far…

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[holleringback]

my teacher was talking about why men fear women and he asked us why women had to be oppressed and of course i said "sex" and i'm pretty sure 92% of the western hemisphere giggled.

[hithertokt]

Hello! I'm a new follower. I just finished my first year teaching ninth, tenth, and eleventh grade. I'm starting to think about next year and the first days of school have me panicked! My activities flopped last year and made the first few days stressful. What did you try this past year/what will you be trying next year? Do you do community building first or rules and procedures? I'd love to hear some fresh ideas. You seem very creative!

This is an unpopular response: I am not a fan of ice-breakers slash community building activities. At all. I hated them in college. I think it might be different if my kiddos were younger, but as it stands, I find them to be a waste of time because:

My freshmen are nervous enough as it is;

Asking people I don’t know yet to “build community” with each other is counter-productive and forced;

I think it sets a bad tone — the odds of awkward silence are huge and that puts me in a position of false cheer/filling the silence myself;

No one expects the Spanish Inquisition.

Here’s what happened this year: I let my kiddos think they’d hate me/my class for the first few days. And it was beautiful.

I followed in my teacher neighbor’s footsteps and gave a brief chat about myself, my expectations, and where things are in my classroom (seven minutes tops) and then immediately assigned them a five paragraph essay on their expectations for high school, to be due the next day.

One: it’s the only assignment all year everyone turned in (truth). Two: I got to know them a little. Three: I understood who the slackers were. Four: I got a preview of their writing skills. The next few days were spent on a grammar diagnostic test — super boring, but super enlightening. Win-win-win, all around.

I don’t need them to like me — genuinely, I don’t. But I know that they will, given time, and I see no reason to force that in the first few days. I see no reason to force their relationships with each other either. Relationships build over time and working in more organic and fun opportunities within our class time later on, when they’re not shell-shocked from the first day(s), seems more productive to me.